BBC Board Member Muriel Gray Called Donald Trump A “Howling Idiot”

EXCLUSIVE: A BBC board member described Donald Trump as a “howling idiot” in social media posts before she joined the UK broadcaster.

Muriel Gray, a former presenter on Channel 4’s anarchic 1980s music show The Tube, repeatedly criticized the U.S. president on X/Twitter over a five-year period prior to being appointed to the BBC’s board in January 2022.

Although historical, Gray’s comments are notable given the focus on the board’s actions over the BBC’s bungled edit of Trump’s January 6 speech, which ultimately led to the shock resignation of Tim Davie, the director general, and head of news Deborah Turness.

In a post weeks after Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Gray wrote: “Is anyone noticing the gorgeous absence of daily Trump horror stories now he’s been sidelined into just a howling idiot shouting into the abyss? It’s like when toothache stops.”

In other missives during Trump’s first term, she described him as “useless” and, in 2019, joked that Melania Trump presents like a “super villain.”

In a June 2020 post, Gray bemoaned the MAGA movement: “Considering all the nuances and complexities of civil wars through the centuries Trump has achieved something unique. He appears to have ignited one of irredeemably thick MAGA Americans verses [sic] the rest of their country.”

In the build-up to the 2016 election, she said: “If you look in a mirror on a full moon and chant ‘Trump is a presidential candidate’ three times, nothing happens. The world is still mad.”

The BBC board’s political leanings have come under scrutiny in recent days. BBC insiders, TV union Bectu, and lawmakers — not least Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey — have called on another board member, Robbie Gibb, to be removed amid allegations that he engineered a conservative coup at the corporation. People close to Gibb, a former communications secretary to Theresa May, have dismissed the allegation.

Gray’s Trump jibes illustrate that others on the BBC board have also voiced strong political views in the past. BBC chair Samir Shah gestured at this in comments to staff this week, in which he said that members of his board could not be accused of “groupthink.” 

The board was alerted in October to the Panorama Trump edit, which spliced together two parts of his Capitol speech to give the appearance he was inciting violence. The issue was raised in a memo from Michael Prescott, a former adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee. His memo was leaked to The Daily Telegraph last week. 

Board discussions contributed to the BBC’s delay in responding to the Trump error. Shah apologized for the Panorama edit on Monday and then repeated the apology in a personal letter to the White House on Thursday after the U.S. president threatened a $1B lawsuit.

Despite her social media remarks, a source said Gray had concerns about the Trump edit and other matters in the Prescott memo, and is said to have been one of the “stronger voices” in board deliberations over the past two weeks. 

Gray’s term on the BBC board was extended to January 2030 only last month. She is one of five non-executive directors appointed by the board’s nominations committee, on which Gray serves, meaning she has a say in new members joining.

BBC insiders have argued that the lack of editorial experience on the board may have contributed to the paralysis over Prescott’s memo. There is a view that the BBC has not helped itself by declining to replace Charlotte Moore on the board after she stepped down as chief content officer over the summer.

Deadline noted in August that a board role was up for grabs, with Moore’s replacement Kate Phillips not being elevated. News chief Turness will also need to be replaced, meaning the BBC is only occupying half of the four seats allocated for executives. Davie has one, while chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva is the other BBC executive board member.

Gibb is one of five political appointments (including the chair) and was installed by Boris Johnson’s government in 2021. Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, said today that the Labour government will reconsider political appointments to the board as part of BBC charter renewal. “There is a real concern, which I share, that political appointments to the board of the BBC damaged confidence and trust in the BBC’s impartiality,” she told Radio 4’s Today show.

Gray, who is paid £33,000 ($43,000) by the BBC, hosted British TV shows including Channel 4’s The Media Show and ran production outfit Gallus Besom. She was chair of The Glasgow School of Art and has served as a trustee of the British Museum.

Gray did not respond to a request for comment. A BBC spokesperson said: “The board oversees the BBC’s mission and public purposes, and members must comply with the BBC board’s code of practice, act in good faith and in the public interest. The BBC’s royal charter sets out the terms on which board members serve, as well as its duties, functions and composition.”